The Bad News About the Human Condition

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would move in our hearts and help us to see and understand ourselves in your word.

And we give you thanks and praise, Father, that your word speaks the truth about us,

not a truth that is brutal, that destroys us or diminishes us or hurts us,

but a truth, Father, that is always for our good to lead us to a truer and deeper knowledge of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross,

a truer and deeper knowledge, Father, of your great love for us and a truer and deeper knowledge of ourselves and others.

So, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do that wonderful, gentle and powerful work in our lives this morning.

And we ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Is this sit down, please? Is this working right?

It seems like it's good.

Okay, then not only am I nose running, but my ears aren't working right.

That's not a very good sign.

There's about a year and a half ago, I don't know, maybe it's a, I've lost track of time.

You know, it's COVID makes it hard to figure out how long ago anything was.

I don't know for you folks, it's just pre-COVID seems like a hundred million years ago to me.

It's hard to imagine there was, but I was just watching ER is on Netflix.

And it's just shocking to see what the doctors do with masks or don't do with masks.

It's like, whoa, what? That actually used to happen before COVID?

Anyway, so there was a big scandal that rocked the Christian church, I don't know, about a year and a half ago or so.

And it was a very, very hard revelation, series of revelations about Ravi Zacharias.

And many of you are probably familiar with it.

Ravi was a best-selling author, a Christian apologist, started a large organization that helped to defend and describe the Christian faith.

And then there had been some allegations just before he died, but they sort of seemed to be dealt with.

But then after he died, more and more revelations came out.

And it turned out that he had been a sexual predator for a long time.

Like just actually a terrible sexual predator.

And if he had not died before these revelations come out, he would definitely have been fired.

And he might very well have been in jail.

And it was a very, very hard thing for a lot of people to get their mind around.

And for some people, it weakened their faith in Christ.

I was just talking this week with somebody who was describing one of their friends who was part of a church where some sexual things had been going on.

And in this particular case, it was with teenage boys, younger, like 12 to 15-year-old teenage boys that had gone on and what happened.

And it just led their friends to basically lose their Christian faith over such a terrible thing to have been revealed.

I mean, it's interestingly enough, there's a part of the, what we're going to look at today actually speaks very directly to this problem.

In fact, it's one of the things which is very interesting about it.

It really struck me this week.

There's a part of the text that we're about to look at today that for many, many years, when I would teach this in a Bible study,

there would be a range of people who wouldn't like the text because they thought it was misogynistic, that it was sort of sexist.

It was a problem for them.

But as I was reading and studying this text this week in light of things like the Ravi Zacharias scandal and other scandals that have gone on in churches,

and not only in churches, of course, right, in Hollywood, in government, in the media, in, you know, different swamis and yogis and all that.

It's been a big scandal.

But in the Christian church, it's been a scandal.

And I realized that this was actually a very, very powerful thing that the text speaks into this situation.

And in fact, just to give you a bit of a teaser, I think as we grasp what the Bible is going to be saying to us this morning,

it will help us to realize that we shouldn't lose our faith over revelations about things like Ravi Zacharias.

And I'll tell you why.

I don't know how many of you are vaccinated.

And one of the things, by the way, that we can do is there is so much division and divisiveness and anger is rising in our culture at an exponential rate.

And we need to really, as a church, start to try to pray into that, that there can be actually, that people can have civil conversations

and just disagree over this without going nuclear and everything.

But anyway, for those of us who are baptized, for those of us who are vaccinated, I mean, we took the vaccines because of the promise that it would protect us from COVID,

that it would protect us probably from death, that it would be something very good for our life.

And if five years or two years down the road, it turns out that half of the people who got vaccinated developed cancer, well, we would be very mad.

I mean, I'm putting it mildly.

We would be absolutely furious.

Why?

Because the promise and prediction is one thing, but the outcome is completely different.

And so we're angry.

And one of the things which is very interesting about this biblical text, concealed within a part that many people, when they look at it from a different context,

find maybe insulting to women, that rather than that, it's actually a very, very profound warning about the human condition.

And in fact, a precise warning about the perennial problem of predators.

So in other words, it's as if it isn't as if God said, listen, believe the gospel and follow Jesus and none of this stuff will happen.

And it's, no, no, listen, this is going to be a constant problem.

You know, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Church of the Messiah, this is going to be a constant problem.

So you have to deal with it.

So let's look at the text.

So if you'd like to turn your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1.

2 Timothy 3:1

If you're a guest this morning coming on, we preach through books of the Bible.

And so this is where we are in the book of 2 Timothy.

And 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 to 9.

2 Timothy 3:1–9

And it goes like this.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Now, we're going to stop and pause there for a second.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Now, if you're here as a guest and you haven't traveled and hung out with Christians for very long,

or if you're watching us online and you haven't hung out with Christians for very long,

or maybe you have hung out with Christians and you're in recovery and checking us out to see if maybe there is,

after being really burned by types of Christianity in churches, that maybe there is something in this Jesus thing.

I mean, just by the way, the biggest barrier for me becoming a Christian was the church,

which I try to remember as a pastor.

And I'm not saying that we do everything perfect, but that was part of my background that was a hard thing to get over.

But it's very interesting here that it says,

In the last days there will become times of difficulty.

And difficulty is a good word for the original language.

But don't think of difficulty as the difficulty that you have because you go to your coffee shop

and you have to wait 90 seconds longer because the person ahead of you is confused.

And you think, gosh, this is difficult.

Okay, that's what's called a first world problem.

Take a chill pill and, you know, pray for the person.

Like, do something productive with your time.

Like, what it's describing here is deep difficulty.

Like, really serious difficulties.

That's the way you have to understand that word.

But here's the significance.

If you travel with Christians, they'll often talk,

Oh, this person's going through a very, very hard time.

And what will Christians, many Christians often say,

Oh, they're obviously going through a time of attack.

The Bible here says that's wrong.

If you could put up my first point,

Life will always be difficult.

Aren't you glad you came to church?

I get to tell you that life will always be difficult.

It's not necessarily a time of special attack.

It's called normal life.

Life will always be difficult.

So following Jesus and learning from him as you walk with him is wise.

Life will always be difficult.

I mean, that's a...

It's actually very interesting for a moment.

Why is it that we don't like hearing that?

Like, what does it tell us...

What does it tell you about yourself that you don't like hearing that?

You know, the fact of the matter is that we live in a culture that's been very, very, very deeply formed by this idea that if you manage techniques, if you manage science, if you have a proper way of managing organizations and governments, and if you read this self-help book,

in self-help books, or different self-help gurus or coaches, they're going to teach you these different steps,

and if you follow these steps, then your marriage will be easier, your job search will be easier, your finances will be easier, your health will be easier, and on and on and on.

And we have this basic acceptance of the idea that life should be easy.

And Christians easily fall into it if you just have this experience of the Holy Spirit, if you have this breakthrough in your life, if you have this Bible study technique, if you are part of this church,

if you listen to this celebrity pastor tell you the steps for dealing with anxiety or this or that, then life will be easy.

It's as if that's normal life.

And when it's not easy, there's something wrong with you.

Or something wrong with your boss or something wrong with your wife or something wrong with your kids or something wrong anywhere else.

But we have this deep addiction to a myth that life is going to natural life is easy.

And if it's not easy, dang it, it's the school board's fault or the union's fault or Trump's fault or Biden's fault or Trudeau's fault or Toul's fault or fill in the blank.

The Bible says life is difficult.

Why am I saying that?

Because, you see, the last days began when Jesus rose from the dead.

It's not talking about some special time of season that happens the week or the month or the year or seven years or three and a half years before Jesus returns.

It's talking about what happened.

We live in the last days right now.

And it's very important that the Bible puts it in terms of the last days, you see, because the last days has a very, very powerful pull on our imagination.

That, you know, the last days will either be when the back when I was a kid, there was a very popular song.

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

As if we were dawning the age where there would be peace and there would be love and there would be harmony and all of that type of stuff.

You know, there's intellectuals who talk about, there was an important intellectual that talked about how with the collapse of the Soviet Union, we'd reach the end of history.

And on the other hand, the end of the days can also be something that gives you license to do whatever you want.

The world is about to come to an end.

The comet's about to come.

We just do whatever.

We murder, rape, pillage, because it's all going to end.

And no, no, the Bible is saying we are in the last days.

And the last days means that your life's going to often be very difficult.

And then the Bible goes immediately into describing part of the reason why life is difficult.

And part of the reason life is difficult, you're going to be really glad you came to church this Sunday.

Part of the reason, you want to find out part of the reason why your life is difficult, the Bible says, look in a mirror.

And it doesn't mean look in a mirror to see what's behind you.

Look in a mirror to see what's around the corner.

Look in a mirror to see yourself.

And what the Bible is about to do now is to actually begin to describe the human condition.

So what does it do?

Let's look.

Verses 2 to 5.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to read through the list.

And then we're going to sort of just think about the list a little bit.

And then we're going to look at it in a little tiny bit of detail so that some of the points are brought home to you.

But listen to what it says.

So I'll read verse 1 again.

But understand this, that in the last days there will become times of difficulty.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents,

ungrateful, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

Avoid such people.

Actually, literally it says cut them off.

Now that's quite a list.

And almost all child-raising books that are published in the secular and even much of the Christian world

says this isn't true.

I was just talking to somebody who'd been observing some child-care-raising practices

and at the heart of those child-care-raising practices is fundamentally the idea that this isn't what human beings are like,

that human beings, their children are fundamentally good.

And they were following techniques to try to deal with children that assumes that children are fundamentally good.

It's part of a lot of educational curriculum at an undergirding level that children and others are natural learners.

It doesn't entertain the idea that, naturally speaking, kids might spend six hours looking at TikTok or playing video games

and never actually wanting to master mathematics or physics.

That they'd much rather read a silly, easy book than to be stretched by a book.

This is a very, very hard list.

If you could put up the point, that would be very helpful.

The Word of God brings you the bad news that the human condition is bent and disordered.

So life is difficult.

In other words, life is difficult not just because you age,

not just because you don't always get that promotion,

you don't always get the marriage,

you don't always get the children,

you don't always get that friendship,

you don't always get the house,

you don't always get these things.

It's hard and difficult because you live with people

that are at least partly described by some of the things on this list,

and life is difficult because you were partially described in this list.

Some of you know me reasonably well.

And you could probably pick different things

where you could see that this is a weakness in my life.

You would look at this list and say,

I can see George.

I could see how George would be tempted.

I could see how George has sometimes been a little bit like this

and a little bit like this and a little bit like this.

And my only hope is that if you ever reveal it to me,

you do it in a way that's not brutal.

Because if you do it in a way that's brutal,

you're in the list too.

You see, this isn't just describing the world,

it's describing the world that includes those who come to church.

It's describing Christians as well as non-Christians.

Now, this is a very, very interesting list, you see,

because it's not saying that human beings are all completely and utterly bad.

And it's not saying that human beings are by very, very nature good.

And if you just have the right religion or the right educational system

or the right form of government,

or if you're a part of the right group,

that this won't be characteristic of you.

It's far more nuanced.

And by the way, this is a very persistent problem.

You see, the heart of critical theory,

which is like, in a sense,

there's sort of several different things that go on

in how people think and talk in the media

and in educational institutions.

And part of it is this sort of a deep belief still

that there is something about people being fundamentally good.

But it's sort of mixed up a little bit with critical theory,

which is sort of the grandchild of Marxism,

which divides the world into classes.

And when you divide the world in classes in classic Marxism,

I mean, it doesn't really say that there's something wrong with the proletariat,

but there is something wrong with the owner class.

And critical theory has taken that and developed it.

So it might just be that if you're a white male like me,

then of course I'm going to be most of these things in the list.

But if you're some victim class,

that there's something about them in that victim class

that they don't lie, they don't lie.

Well, one moment, the Bible says that's not true.

This list describes everybody.

And just apart from a type of learned blindness,

we see it all the time.

And so you see, here's what the Bible is saying.

It's not that we're all bad or all good.

Like, take the idea of overcome with conceit.

Well, what's conceit?

Conceit, and this describes nobody in the room, okay?

Conceit is actually having too high opinion of your own ideas.

There's nobody here who never remembers

the time they made a prediction that it was wrong.

But they remember all the times

they made a prediction that it was right.

There's never been a time, any of us,

where we've made a proposal for a way to move forward,

and later events would show that if it had been followed,

that it would have been disastrous.

But we do remember the times we made proposals

where because it wasn't followed, there was disaster.

There's nobody here who thinks that they're sort of always right,

or that they're always the smartest person in the room,

or they're always the wisest person in the room.

There's nobody here that describes that.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Isn't that ridiculous?

Some of us are squirming, and others are saying,

I sure wish my best friend was here to hear this,

or I really wish, I hope my husband is paying attention

to what George just described.

But you see, what's the problem with that?

The Bible doesn't say that you never have good ideas.

The Bible doesn't say you never have good proposals,

that there's just something completely dirty and wrong about you.

The Bible doesn't say that.

The Bible says the problem isn't that you never have good ideas,

is that there's something disordered in you,

and you're conceited.

You don't recognize that sometimes you're just wrong,

and you don't acknowledge it.

Right?

You see, the Bible here is very subtle.

That's why it says that the human problem,

there's something bent and disordered about human beings,

and that that's the human condition.

The human condition isn't that we have,

as Buddhism says, that we have desire,

and we have to kill desire,

and get rid of that through different techniques,

so that we will no longer have problems.

It doesn't say that the failure is because we don't understand

that all things are one.

The Bible isn't saying it's because we're part of the wrong class,

or the wrong group,

or that we haven't had the right education.

It's just saying this is the human condition,

and we have to deal with it.

But let's go through the list.

We have a few minutes.

Let's just go through the list again,

and just look at it,

about what it actually says.

For people will be lovers of self.

The Bible isn't here saying that you should never have

a positive regard for yourself.

But what it is saying is this,

that your concern for yourself,

and your desiring the best things for yourself,

is very easily disordered.

You see, here's the problem.

Most of us want love.

But if you are too much in love with yourself,

it will be impossible for you to love another person.

Why is that?

Well, you see, because partly what's loving another person,

is forgetting yourself for a moment,

is to say to yourself,

you know, gosh,

you know, whatever it is,

my wife, you know,

my kid,

gosh, they're a cute kid.

You know, gosh,

they did a really good job with that.

You know, gosh,

my wife is,

that was a really kind thing she did.

Gosh, she's beautiful.

But if every time you have an interaction with a person,

all you're thinking about is,

does my hair look good?

Like, am I coming across right?

Like, and all you're doing is thinking about yourself,

then it's hard to notice the other person.

It's hard to actually love the other person.

So the problem isn't that you just so love the other person

that you forget about yourself.

The problem is that your love is disordered.

You've got them out of,

it's in the wrong order.

Oops.

Good thing that was closed.

And then look at the second one here.

So that was the first one.

Lovers of self,

lovers of money.

The Bible isn't here saying,

I was talking to a business person the other day

in one of my favorite coffee shops.

And I said to him,

you know,

the Christian ideal,

because he obviously likes to make money.

And I said,

you know,

the Bible doesn't say you shouldn't be making money.

He provides employment for a lot of people.

And my guess is he's a really good boss.

I'd probably easily have one of my grandkids or kids

or recommend one of you to work for him.

I think he looks like he's a very conscientious boss,

cares about his employees,

probably pays them as fair as he can.

And I said,

you know,

the Christian ideal isn't like you see often in Hinduism or Buddhism,

where you have an emaciated person living an isolated life.

And that somehow is the pinnacle of the human life.

Christians believe in feasts.

You know,

the Sabbath is not just a day of rest.

It's a day that you should feast

and that you should share the food with other people if you can,

if it's a non-COVID world.

Have people over.

Remember,

bring out the pumpkin pie.

Add lots of whipped cream.

Bring out the best wine if you're not an alcoholic.

And if you're an alcoholic,

well,

bring out the best Coke.

Don't get the no-name stuff.

Buy it.

Get the real stuff.

You know,

give them the full experience.

Like,

it's not,

and I said,

you know,

I mean,

the Christian wisdom would be,

like a very one is,

you know,

earn as much as you can

and give as much as you can

because if money starts to control your life,

your life is just going to be miserable.

So,

you know,

a very standard piece of advice is,

you know,

live on 80% of,

you know,

give 10% of your money away

for the good of people

and the furtherance of the gospel.

Save 10%

because that's a wise thing for the future.

And with the other 80%,

have fun.

You sort of looked at me,

what Christians would say,

you can have fun.

Yeah,

have fun.

Like,

if you can afford an expensive car,

afford an expensive car.

See,

part of the way you deal with money

having control of your life

is giving it away.

Just giving it away.

And by the way,

if you're watching this

or if you're here

and you don't come to the church,

we don't want you to put any money

in the plate,

okay?

If you're not with Jesus,

we don't want you to give us any money.

I don't say that

so you give us money.

But for Christians,

you have to wonder,

you know,

is money running your life?

We can see how money runs

other people's lives

and it ruins them,

but does money run your own life?

Well,

you only actually experience that

if you try to give the money away.

Let's look at the rest of the list.

Sort of proud,

obvious,

arrogant,

abusive.

Abusive is here,

meant not just physically abusive,

but abusive with your tongue.

Being like a bull

in a tea shop,

being just very,

very domineering

in meetings

or groups

or your family.

Disobedient to their parents.

We'll talk a whole type

of thing about this,

but it's just

for children

who are still

under their parents

that there is a...

Okay.

I'm not telling you

to get a vaccine necessarily.

I'm trying to stay out

of that whole debate.

I just want things

to be divisive.

But I do know

that some people

don't want to get a vaccine

not because they have

good medical reasons,

and I know people

who have valid,

valid concerns about it,

but there's something

like the government

telling them what to do.

Okay, time out.

That's not a good reason.

That's just not a good reason.

I'm sorry.

I have all the time

in the world

for people

I have other concerns about.

I really do.

And I just was suggesting

to somebody

at the end

of the 8 o'clock service,

I said,

because they sent an email

about my latest blog,

which I wrote yesterday

about whether vaccinations

against COVID-19

are a mark of the beast.

And I said to them,

you know what would be

really wonderful?

I'd love it if I could get,

there's a wide range of views

on this in this congregation.

Wouldn't it be good?

Would you be willing

to be part of this,

to have 12 people

from the congregation

to represent the whole range

of things

and we'll get together,

we'll all share Coke

and have something to eat

and just see if we can have

a civil conversation

about this

and try to hear

how other people think?

Like that could be,

I mean if we could

actually manage that,

we should probably

put it on YouTube

and try to get it promoted

because there doesn't seem

to be anywhere

where people have

civil conversations

about this thing.

I'm getting off

of my sermon topic.

It just began

with that one thing of,

I know there's valid

reasons to take it

and I'm double vaccinated

and I understand

those who have

other concerns

but just because

the government

tells you to do it

is a reason not to do it.

That's not a biblical reason.

Sorry, it's not.

Ungrateful, unholy,

heartless, unappeasable

is an interesting one.

The actual word is,

the opposite to unappeasable

is a treaty person.

A person who's willing

to get into a treaty.

A person who's willing

to say,

okay, we've made these claims,

they're wrong,

we're willing to set them aside.

Okay, we acknowledge

that we've done these things

and we need to stop them

and you'll stop them

and being able to enter

into a treaty

with a person

where it's not just a treaty

because you've just

completely and utterly

annihilated them

and while you have

your knee on their back

and a gun to their head

they have to sign something

but one where you actually

have a treaty

and you acknowledge

problems on both sides

and things you have to give up

to have a treaty.

The opposite of that

is the word here.

A person who never

enters into a treaty.

Never acknowledges

that they're wrong.

Never gives an inch.

Everything is somebody else's fault.

I have to get my way.

That's what this is describing.

Where am I here?

Slanderous,

without self-control,

brutal,

not loving good,

treacherous,

reckless,

swollen with conceit,

lovers of pleasure

rather than lovers of God.

Once again,

the Bible isn't saying

that you shouldn't go home

and get that pumpkin pie

from Costco

and add a whole pile

of whipped cream

and just enjoy it today.

We're not world denying.

But if pleasure starts

to rule your life

rather than God,

it means you'll never

pick up and cross

and follow Him.

You'll never be generous.

You'll never show

compassion to people.

If your pleasure

ends up being

what rules you,

you'll never do

these things

which are just good

and just so needed

for the social order

and having the appearance

of godliness

but denying its power

avoid such people.

So, you know,

just to go back,

the Word of God

brings you the bad news

that the human condition

is bent and disordered

and so life is difficult.

But the Bible

doesn't tell us this

just to depress us.

See, the thing

which is so powerful

about the Bible,

well, here,

before we get to it,

let's just look at

the type of thing

that happens.

There's another concern

that Paul has

with Timothy

that's,

you see,

what all,

actually,

what we'll do,

it's not going to be in,

you can't look at it

on the screen.

This is part of chapter 3

and chapter 3

culminates with this

very, very, very

powerful phrase.

If you have your Bibles

with you,

you won't have it

on the screen,

I should have had it

up here,

but if you look at

verses 15 and 16 and 17,

all of this bad news

is setting up the stage

for us to appreciate

verses 15, 16, and 17,

and how from childhood

you have been acquainted

with the sacred writings,

that's the Bible,

which are able to make you

wise for salvation

through faith in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is breathed out

by God and profitable

for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training

in righteousness,

that the man of God

or the woman of God

may be complete,

equipped,

for every good work.

And so the Bible

is giving us

this bad news

to make us understand

why we need the good news,

that we need a mirror

that actually shows us

who we are.

But the Bible

doesn't confront us

with these things

about ourselves

so that we despair.

The Bible's not

being brutal.

The Bible's getting us

to realize,

I need a Savior.

I need wisdom.

I need insight.

And I need wisdom

and insight

that isn't bent

and disordered.

I need something

that comes ultimately

from outside

this world condition

that ultimately

comes from God.

Like, I need this.

That if one or more

of these things,

the 19 things,

describe me,

then how can I ever

fix myself?

How can I leave myself

to save myself?

How can I leave myself

to fix myself?

I can't leave myself

to do this.

I need a Savior.

Like, either this

is condemning me

to a life

where there's never

any point

in trying to repent

or change

or anything like that.

This is trying

to communicate

why the good news

which has been described

in chapter 1 and 2

and will be later on

in chapter 3

and later on

in chapter 4,

why it's good news.

Let's look at

verses 6 to 9.

For among them

are those who creep

into households

and capture weak women,

burdened with sins

and led astray

by various passions.

always learning

and never able

to arrive at a knowledge

of the truth.

So, what the text

is saying here

when it says

from among them,

what it's basically

saying is that,

actually it's a bit

out of order, Claire,

could you just put up

my third point

right now?

Denying the truth

of the human condition

creates fertile soil

for predators

to prey on the weak

and the vulnerable.

Denying the truth

of the human condition

creates fertile soil

for predators

to prey on the weak

and the vulnerable.

That's what it's saying,

that out of these

things in the human condition.

So, what Paul is saying

to Timothy,

what he's saying

to us as a church

is you need to preach

about the human condition.

You need to preach

about the human condition

in the context of grace.

And you need to organize

around the human condition.

Not that your mind

is never going to be right,

but that there's a possibility

that you can fall too much

in love with your mind.

Not that you're always

going to have wrong plans,

but that you can forget

the times you were wrong.

And you need to remember

these things.

You need the Bible

to help to bring this

to some type of a clarity.

And you need to be able

to have a Savior

that you can walk with it.

You can call out to Him

and say,

Jesus, I really need you

to be my Savior

and I really need you

to be my Lord

because my relationship

with alcohol,

my relationship with money,

my relationship

with myself,

my relationship

with power,

my relationship

with others

is out of order.

And I can't just

white-knuckle at Jesus.

I have,

Jesus,

you need to be

that higher power.

You need to be that one

who can bring the order

in my life

that I can't create myself

and I need to be

constantly reminded of it

and I need to be part

of a community,

a church,

that will remind me of it

and will show grace

and will speak to me

in a way which is not brutal

and will tell me

about Jesus

and that will teach

in such a way

that will not just,

we don't want,

I don't want to be a predator.

I don't want to have predators.

We need to protect

the weak and the vulnerable.

But out of that teaching

which ignores

the human condition

creates a fertile soil

for predators

to prey on the weak

and the vulnerable.

See,

what,

if you know,

any of you have met

anybody who's a bit

of a predator,

predators have

a sixth sense

of picking out,

like I'm talking about men

who pick on women,

they have a sixth sense

about who's weak.

They'll go into a room

or they'll be part of a group

or a church

for a little while

and they can just tell

the women

who will just,

in a sense,

in a way that's,

you know,

Jesus loves you

but give them the finger

and put them

in their place

and they can tell

the women

who will be completely

and utterly,

well,

they're weak

and vulnerable.

Predators have a sixth sense.

And part of the issue

with the Ravi Zacharias thing

wasn't that they

as an organization

never believed

in the fall

but they didn't believe

that Ravi was fallen.

They thought everybody

in the world

was fallen

except Ravi

so they didn't have

normal checks

and balances

on how he spent

his money.

They'd believe him

when they'd say

that he could be

paying for women

to travel with him

and masseuses

to travel with him

but somehow

he was never

in a room alone

with them

and they'd believe it

because they just

thought as if

Ravi wasn't fallen.

And part of the whole

Me Too movement

developed very specifically

out of the sexual revolution

and the naturalness

of sexual desires

and this belief

that somehow

using sexual desires

or somehow natural

and right and good

yet to have

such a type of ideology

and such a type

of teaching

is fertile soil

for sexual predators

to be sexual predators.

The Bible here

isn't describing

that all women are weak

it's describing the fact

that if you don't deal

with the human condition

and preach against it

and you turn a blind eye

to normal types

of discipline

and normal types

of things

to try to prevent it

that sexual predators

will flourish.

it's also saying

that if when you hear

about an act

of sexual predation

or any other type

of predatory behavior

and if you don't discipline it

it will continue.

Like you can't stop it

from happening

because that's part

of the human condition

but you definitely

will encourage it

to happen

if you talk

as if there's certain people

where there's something

about the human condition

which is just natural

and good

and that there's nothing

evil about it

there's nothing bent

or disordered about it

and if you just

talk like that

then you'll turn

a blind eye to stuff

and it also makes it

harder to discipline it

when it happens

and the Bible here

is basically saying

to Timothy

because he's going

to be talking

to Timothy

and if you look

at 1 Timothy as well

which talked about

you deal with it

Timothy

like preach against it

and you deal with it

you set up things

and you deal with it

because the weak

and the vulnerable

matter to God

the weak

and the vulnerable

matter to God

and if they matter

to God

they should matter

to Christians

and they should matter

to the church

some of you know

that I had a role

in putting somebody

who had sexually abused

young girls

into jail

I had a role in that

and it was a family member

caused great division

in my family

and you would not believe

how many godly Baptists

and others

wrote me

and phoned me

and told me

that what I was doing

was wrong

and they wrote me

and told me

that I should be concerned

about the family

and the reputation

rather than the victims

and I can also tell you

I will not name them

one of these people

as a social justice champion

in Canada

folks if this happens

in the church

the last thing

we should concern about

is the reputation

of church and the Messiah

what we should be concerned about

is the weak

and the vulnerable

and that shouldn't even be

something that we have

to think about

we shouldn't even have to say

we have to pray about that

just to wrap us up

the time story

when you understand

the bad news

you understand

your need

for the good news

when you understand

the bad news

you understand

your need

for the good news

you see here's the wonderful news

about the good news

for God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son

to the end

that anyone who believes in him

will not perish

but have everlasting life

when it says perish

what does that mean

means God knows

that those 19 vices

in 2nd Timothy

describe me

and even though

that God knew

that those 19

vices

describe me

still Jesus

died on the cross

for me

and he died on the cross

for me knowing

every single one of them

he knows the times

I've been brutal

to my wife

and to my kids

he knows the ways

that I've damaged

my marriage

or my family

by being a lover

of myself

rather than a lover

of my wife

for my kids

he knows all that

and he died

for me

and he died for you

and I don't know

how you can have

a moral self-examination

if you want to

if you're going to be

constantly thinking

that you need to

justify yourself

and manage your appearances

I don't know

how you manage it

I know people do

and God loved them

that they do

that's common grace

but let me tell you

as grace grips you

as you understand

more fully

that

for God so loved

the world

that he gave

his only begotten

son to the end

that all who believe

in him will not

perish but have

eternal life

when you understand

that he knew

we were perishing

and he knew

why we were perishing

and still he loved us

and came and died

for us

and that in a sense

no sin in my life

will ever surprise

Jesus who died for me

and my standing

before God

my justification

before God

is not that he

weighed my merits

but that he

pardoned my offenses

and it's not

that I was able

to get a great score

in ethics

and a great score

in theology

but I am covered

by the blood

of Christ

and that's my

justification

and that becomes

a stance

as that becomes

more real

and deep to my heart

that I can say

you know what

I can be really

ungentle

with my tongue

I can be like this

I can be like that

and I can call out

to Jesus

and thank him

for dying for me

and I can say

Lord Jesus

help me to be better

help me to be more

like Christ

help me to be less

a lover of myself

and more a lover

of you

help me to be less

a lover of money

and more a lover

of you

and what the money

that you've entrusted

to me for a while

could do for the furtherance

of the kingdom

and the relief

of the poor

and bringing glory

to you

see that's why

knowing the bad news

helps you appreciate

the good news

and one final thing

just as you all stand

the challenge here

is to teach the Bible

and discipline biblically

to help people

thrive in Christ

and to protect

the weak

and the vulnerable

that's why this section

is here

teach the Bible

and discipline biblically

why?

to help people

thrive in Christ

and to protect

the weak

and the vulnerable

please stand

just bow our heads

in prayer

Father

we confess

that it

it's

we really like it

when the Bible

speaks about other people

it can be hard

when it speaks

about ourselves

but Father

we thank you

that you press

through that

that your Bible

speaks to us

and that as the Holy Spirit

has a deeper role

in our lives

the Holy Spirit

will bring the Bible

to see how

it's describing us

describing me

describing our church

and so Father

we thank you

that you confront

to connect

and you confront

and you connect

so that we know

our need for a Savior

and your great grace

and Father

we give you thanks

and praise

that when we've accepted

Jesus as our Savior

and Lord

that we can repent

with hope

we can repent

Father

knowing that even

if we're going to fall

a hundred times more

over the next couple of years

but that every time

we can repent

that we don't have to make

a treaty with evil

we can make treaty

with others

for the good of the kingdom

and out of love

and being self-effacing

but we don't make treaties

with evil

we don't make treaties

with hurting the weak

and the vulnerable

and that Father

as the Bible grips us

so we can look at ourselves

we can repent

in the hope

that the final word

about us

will not be

bent and disordered

but made new in Christ

filled with the Holy Spirit

and that we can have

some victory

over these sins

on this side of the grave

that we can pick up

our cross

and follow Jesus

and become more like him

Father

help us to know

the bad news

so that we will love

the good news

and that we can repent

and amend our lives

with hope

and we ask this

in the precious name

of Jesus

and all God's people said

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen